The last two items provide a true assessment if the KPI in question can be real-time immediately: if a KPI is updated monthly, the real-time possibility may not be immediate. Weekly and Daily KPIs are the most real-time ready.

Develop a KPI Complexity Matrix

Using the KPI complexity and frequency information gathered from the prior step, we could create a matrix with the following items:

KPI Group

Business Priority

Data Sources

Data Complexity

Application Complexity

Define a Long-Term Roadmap

When migrating to real-time, consider what can be accomplished in a reasonable time frame. Also consider whether data collection and reporting strategies may need to change. This can involve investment in technologies over and above the typical business intelligence costs which results in a multi-year strategy. For example, real-time KPIs for labor reporting may require a new workforce management system. Such an investment represents both significant costs but also significant benefits on a longer time horizon. An organization which just implemented a modern ERP system may have easy access to inventory; therefore inventory-based KPIs are candidates to implement sooner.

Identify 1st Year Quick Wins

By migrating toward real-time KPIs, has the business function that the KPIs support improved in performance? How has the real-time behavior impacted this improvement? We also identify the challenges with a real-time KPI migration and can determine how the organization can move forward with more KPIs in the future.

Summary

Each of the above steps can be a chapter of its own and will be covered in detail in future posts. One of the primary results of a real-time KPI migration will be a reduction of the KPIs – not all KPIs need to be real-time. Utilizing the real-time KPI maturity framework will provide a path to success.